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Robby tries to comfort an upset, angry, sad Milo.
“I know it’s disappointing, baby.”
“I’m not a baby!” Milo half yells as he glares at him.
That gets a quick sharp “Knock it off” from Jack.
They are firmly in the throes of pre-teen hormones with 12 year old Milo. Their sweet baby boy has flipped a switch to moody and angry and volatile. It’s a learning curve for everybody.
Despite his new big, bad attitude, he still doesn’t like getting in trouble. Jack’s reprimand gets a lip quiver which Milo quickly bites down to hide.
Jake has officially been reunited with his mom. They’d had lots of conversations with the kids about this happening, but Milo in particular had been close with Jake and is not handling it well.
“We’re still going to see him, Milo. We already set up a day to have him over. He needs to be with his mom.”
“I know that! I’m not stupid.”
Robby closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, summoning up his last remaining bit of patience.
But Jack, much quicker to react, says “The attitude is unnecessary, Milo. Papa’s just trying to reassure you that you’ll still see Jake, probably pretty frequently.”
Milo sighs and walks off, going to his and Clark’s room.
Robby glances at Jack and they both shake their heads.
Junie comes out of the girls’ bedroom and climbs up on the couch. Her curls are wild and she’s immediately entranced by the TV.
There’s a sudden commotion from the boys’ room and the door slams open. Milo is yelling at Clark, and Clark is dodging out of his reach.
“Enough!” Robby raises his voice.
“He punched me in the nuts!” Milo yells and points at Clark.
“Clark,” Jack warns seriously. “Private parts are off limits, you know that.”
“What are nuts?” Junie asks.
Jack rubs a hand down his face. “It’s… a slang word for testicles.”
They taught the kids proper terms for body parts, but Milo was entering that middle school boy phase of life and suddenly everything was nuts and balls.
Junie hollers “Hey Nellie, remember that the boy private part was called testicles? It’s actually called nuts!”
“It’s not…” now Jack pinches the bridge of his nose. “They’re not actually called nuts, Junie. They’re called testicles.” He turns to Milo. “Could you take it easy on the nuts talk in front of your sisters, please?”
Nell comes out of the room, curious. “Why are they called nuts?”
Robby bites his lip to keep from laughing. Honestly, sometimes his life is one big comedy show.
“Hey,” he changes the subject. “Auntie Dana is supposed to be coming over to hang out while Daddy and I go on a date.”
“Auntie Dana!” Nell screeches in excitement.
Clark, looking way too grown, walks further into the living room. He recently wanted a change with his hair and went really short with it. The sides and back are buzzed short and the top is just barely longer, completely taking away his curls. It was a sad day when that happened. Robby still isn’t used to seeing him without his wild hair. It also makes him look so much older having short, neat hair.
“Can she bring us dinner?”
Robby gives Clark a look. “No.”
“Why not? We’ll be hungry.”
“Dad is making you something to eat before we leave.” Before Clark can protest, Robby reminds him, “You need to go practice piano. 15 minutes, at least.”
Clark groans as there’s a knock at the door. Jack opens it and the little boy from down the street asks if Clark can come out to play.
Clark darts out the door without asking, but Jack grabs him by the back of the shirt and yanks him back. “Piano. 15 minutes.” Then he looks at the little boy and says, much gentler, “He can come out after he does his 15 minutes of piano.”
They’d gotten Clark into piano lessons. All of the children are in various activities and it basically consumes their whole lives. Milo does travel baseball, and he’s really good. Clark does both piano and soccer because they need him in something active along with something mentally challenging. The girls are in ballet. They’d offered doing their own independent activities, but the girls had both wanted to do ballet and it made their lives easier so they didn’t fight it.
Clark runs downstairs to do his piano. They hear the notes filter through the basement door.
The girls run off to their room to play.
Milo had trailed back to his room while they were dealing with Clark, so Robby walks over and knocks on the door. Milo is lying on his stomach on the top bunk, reading a book.
Robby walks over and Milo rolls onto his side and props his head on his hand to give Robby his attention.
Where Clark usually had wild, longer hair, Milo usually kept his fairly short, but they had switched places and Milo’s had grown longer so it flopped nearly into his eyes.
Robby reaches forward and brushes it out of his eyes. “Everything okay, big man? Other than big feelings about Jake leaving?”
Milo shrugs. “I guess just Jake leaving. I liked having a big brother.”
“I know it’s not the same, but he’ll still be like a big brother to you, he just won’t be around as much. Anything else bothering you?”
Milo’s lips purse in thought. “I wish Dad didn’t have to be so harsh.”
Robby has to force himself not to smile. He doesn’t want Milo to think he’s laughing at him. Milo isn’t used to the Clark tone being used on him. It doesn’t phase Clark. But Milo is sensitive and has very rarely had that tone directed at him.
“I think… it’s hard because Dad is the parent here and you’re the child, and I don’t think he appreciated the way you raised your voice at me so he reacted. What you need to understand as you get older and start having some pre-teen and teen attitude is that we won’t always accept you speaking to us in certain ways.”
“Well I don’t feel like the way Dad talked to me was respectful either.”
Robby bites his lip in thought. They do preach respect constantly.
“Part of it is, you get what you give. So if you want to talk big and have an attitude, you’re more than likely going to get that reaction back. So your job is going to be stopping and thinking before you just spout off. Does that make sense?”
Milo nods but also shrugs, like he understands but he also wants Robby to know he’s not necessarily happy about it.
“Getting older is tough, Goose. There are more expectations as you get older. You’ll learn them though,” Robby says confidently. He brushes his hand over Milo’s head one more time and says “Okay, I’m going to go see if Dad needs help with dinner.”
They get dinner done and on the table, and Jack calls Clark in from playing outside. Dinner is its usual chaotic affair but they’re happy to get the process out of the way for Dana.
She comes shortly after dinner is over and Junie immediately imparts her new found wisdom before even saying hello.
“Auntie Dana, did you know that boys have nuts?”
And bless her, she doesn’t even bat an eye. “I did know that. Thank goodness us girls don’t have to deal with that, huh?”
Junie laughs, and they high five.
Dana arches her brow at Robby and Jack, and Robby shrugs like what can you do?
Robby lets her know bed times just in case but lets her know they’ll likely be home before then. He tells her that Milo is having a bit of a hard time, but that he likely won’t be any trouble for her.
She tells them she’s got it under control and shoos them out the door.
They’re just going for dinner. They had nothing fancy planned, just needed a little break from their wild children for a bit.
They take their time eating and talking.
Robby texts Janey and says they’re already missing Jake. She texts back and says he misses them too.
Milo’s having a hard time without his buddy, Robby responds.
Could they FaceTime? Janey texts back.
Robby lets her know that he and Jack aren’t home but if they get home before bed, FaceTiming would be a great idea.
When they get home, the girls are in bed but the boys are still awake.
Robby texts Janey and asks if he can still FaceTime. When he gets the affirmative, he calls Milo over and FaceTimes Janey.
Jake answers and Milo’s face lights up. Jake grins and says “Hey dork” in that affectionate sibling way.
Milo laughs and says “Hey nerd.”
Robby hands Milo the phone and he happily skips off to the kitchen to talk to his buddy. They let him stay up a little past his bedtime, talking. He and Jake are loud and silly, it’s familiar and comforting.
When they finally hang up, Milo is beaming. He walks over and hugs Robby and says “Thanks, Papa.”
“You’re welcome, Goose.” He kisses the side of Milo’s head, glad he could help him feel a little better and see the sweet smile on his face again.